美国国家公共电台 NPR--Behind this locked door is the white abalone's best chance of avoiding extinction

Behind this locked door is the white abalone's best chance of avoiding extinction¹

Transcript²

Kristin Aquilino stands outside a locked black door that has a sign that reads, "Authorized³ Personnel Only."

"You're about to enter a room that has more white abalone than exist in the ocean, which is both terrifying and an incredible opportunity to save them," she says.

Aquilino runs the white abalone captive breeding program at UC Davis Bodega Marine⁴ Laboratory in California.

"I basically manage a really specialized⁵ fertility clinic, spa and nursery for an endangered sea snail," she says.

Special tanks help the abalone thrive.

This was not exactly Aquilino's childhood dream. She admits she didn't know what an abalone was until she arrived in California as a grad student. But she learned quickly.

There are seven species native to the Californian coast, and in 2001, white abalone became the first marine invertebrate⁶ to be listed as endangered. White abalone have the bad luck of being known as the most tender and delicious, and in the 1970s they were fished nearly to extinction.

Today, diving for wild abalone is prohibited in California. There are commercial abalone farms, but Aquilino and her team have been working since 2011 to get enough animals into the ocean to remove the species from the endangered list.

"I could not have imagined as a kid growing up in Iowa that I would be in charge of saving an endangered sea snail," Aquilino says.

The 20,000 or so abalone in her lab range drastically in age and size. In the "juvenile⁷ culture rack" the smallest hatchlings are just a few hundred microns across — about the size of a speck⁸ of vanilla⁹ bean in your fancy ice cream.

It takes two to four years in the lab for the abalone to go from a speck to the inch-long juveniles¹⁰ ready to be introduced to the ocean. In another tank are 21-year-olds that were spawned¹² during the very first year of the program (Aquilino's best guess is that abalone can live 40 years or more in the wild.)

The 10 biggest animals in the lab were captured between 2004 and 2019 and are now a bit bigger than a softball. But these seniors can't retire yet — Aquilino says they're some of her most prolific¹³ spawners. She points to "Green 312" clinging to the side of a tank.

This abalone has done a lot of the work at the the lab.

"There's a special animal in here," she says. "She's one of the animals who've spawned most in this program. She's spawned 20 million eggs at one time. And that's our hope to get all these animals to spawn¹¹ that much regularly."

So, how do the researchers convince the animals to make babies?

"Spawning¹⁴ white abalone is a really romantic process," Aquilino says. "We put them all in their own individual buckets. We put a love potion of hydrogen peroxide in those buckets, play some Barry White and hopefully they give us whatever gametes they have."

Aquilino says the researchers have in fact played Barry White's hit "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" in the lab during spawning season. Why not? It couldn't hurt.

"The scientists need to be in the mood too, I suppose," she chuckles¹⁵.

There are other labs around the world doing similar work, but what makes this one special is the fact it's located right at the core of the ocean upwelling, says lab director John Largier.

California is one part of the world where the cold, nutrient-rich water rises close to the surface. It happens in southwestern Africa — where Largier is from — as well as northwestern Africa into southern Europe, and all along the west coasts of South and North America.

Largier says all of those regions share the same desirable attributes.

"They're all characterized by bounteous¹⁶ fish, big birds, sharks, whales — and inland, really good wine," he says.

As for the work they are doing to bring abalone back from the brink¹⁷ of extinction, that will take some time, Aquilino says. The lab is creating about 30,000 white abalone a year, but she believes they need to triple that number.

"It's probably going to take decades in order to create self-sustaining populations [in the wild]," she says. "If we can keep putting animals in the same site four times a year or so for five or six years, the hope is we can create those self-sustaining populations."

That work is well underway, and her lab already produces more animals than it can store.

As she prepares to leave the lab, Aquilino receives a text from the hatchery manager at an abalone farm that partners with the lab. It reads, "The future of white abalone," and includes two pictures of troughs overflowing¹⁸ with her animals — ready to try their luck in the open ocean for the first time.

1 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

4 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

5 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

6 invertebrate   

n.无脊椎动物

参考例句：

• Half of all invertebrate species live in tropical rain forests.一半的无脊椎动物物种生活在热带雨林中。
• Worms are an example of invertebrate animals.蠕虫是无脊椎动物的一个例子。

7 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

8 speck   

n.微粒，小污点，小斑点

参考例句：

• I have not a speck of interest in it.我对它没有任何兴趣。
• The sky is clear and bright without a speck of cloud.天空晴朗，一星星云彩也没有。

9 vanilla   

n.香子兰，香草

参考例句：

• He used to love milk flavoured with vanilla.他过去常爱喝带香草味的牛奶。
• I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.我在馅饼里加了一块香草冰激凌。

10 juveniles   

n.青少年( juvenile的名词复数 )；扮演少年角色的演员；未成年人

参考例句：

• Do you think that punishment for violent crimes should be the same for juveniles and adults? 你对暴力犯罪的惩罚对于青少年和成人应一样吗？ 来自生活英语口语25天快训
• Juveniles Should we not exactly in need of such strength and conviction? 少年的我们难道不正是需要这种力量和信念吗？ 来自互联网

11 spawn   

n.卵，产物，后代，结果；vt.产卵，种菌丝于，产生，造成；vi.产卵，大量生产

参考例句：

• The fish were madly pushing their way upstream to spawn.鱼群为产卵而疯狂地向上游挤进。
• These fish will lay spawn in about one month from now.这些鱼大约一个月内会产卵。

12 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。

13 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。

14 spawning   

产卵

参考例句：

• Encounter sites have a small chance of spawning a "Commander" NPC. 遭遇战地区有很小的几率遇到NPC指挥官。
• Instantly revives your Champion at your Spawning Pool, 9 minute cooldown. 立即在出生地复活你的英雄，冷却时间9分钟。

15 chuckles   

轻声地笑( chuckle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Father always chuckles when he reads the funny papers. 父亲在读幽默报纸时总是低声发笑。
• [Chuckles] You thought he was being poisoned by hemlock? 你觉得他中的会是芹叶钩吻毒吗？

16 bounteous   

adj.丰富的

参考例句：

• Because of the spring rains,the farmers had a bounteous crop.因为下了春雨，农夫获得了丰收。
• He has a bounteous imagination.他有丰富的想象力。

17 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

18 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。